EVENT DETAILS

Risk: A Keywords Roundtable Discussion

In 2013-14 the Department of Women’s Studies at UC Irvine presents the tenth year of its quarterly roundtable series on keywords--contested terms with overlapping, sometimes catachrestic, meanings that recur in various and divergent contexts. Past keywords included: toxic, embedded, regulation, author, offshore, private, public, immunity, pain, movement, transparency and exposure.This roundtable will focus on a critical interrogation of the term "risk.”

Risk. The word conjures at once both fear and excitement, a pushing of tolerances toward either collapse or reward--or some combination of both. We speak of risky investments, leading to ruin or gain, but also the risk of infection, the perceived consequences of risky behavior. But risk isn’t just action; it’s also affect. Some people are risk-takers, seemingly pre-disposed to take chances; while others are risk-averse, timid and hesitant. Cultural memes push us toward risk (“nothing ventured, nothing gained”) while constantly warning us of its dangers. The promulgation of risk seems the ultimate construction of the double-bind, allowing the culture to promote innovation, creativity, and exploration while reserving the right to put all of the burden of failure on those whose risks go awry.

Our panelists will lead a discussion on the various permutations of RISK as they play out, and shape, contemporary social structures, affects, and possibilities for resistance.

ROUNDTABLE PARTICIPANTS:
Patrick Anderson, Director, Critical Gender Studies, UCSD
Tesha Sengupta-Irving, Assistant Professor of Education, UCI
Elizabeth Losh, Director of Academic Programs, Sixth College, UCSD

MODERATOR: Jonathan Alexander, Professor and Chair, Women's Studies, UC Irvine